In Central Queensland, gas companies are spending tens of billions of dollars building (liquefied natural gas) LNG plants, but local fishermen and green groups say the LNG boom has come at too high a price.
From the air, the scale of development on Curtis Island off Gladstone becomes apparent. This is a gateway to the Great Barrier Reef, a World Heritage area that has become a developer’s dream. The southwest part of the island has been bulldozed to make way for three LNG plants and huge amounts of money are being poured into the projects. “We’re spending something like $10,000 a minute,” says Mark Macfarlane, CEO of Santos GLNG.
The gas companies are digging thousands of wells in the Surat and Bowen basins, hundreds of kilometres from Gladstone, in order to extract coal seam gas. In 2014 that gas will start to be piped to Curtis Island where it will be cooled to minus 162 degrees Celsius and converted to LNG, ready to be shipped to Asia.
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The gas companies are taking advantage of predictions from the International Energy Agency, which says demand for natural gas will grow significantly in the next two decades. GLNG will pipe its gas from Roma, 420 kilometres from Gladstone. The company has contracts to supply Korea and Malaysia with LNG for 15-20 years. Mark Macfarlane says these countries face a choice between burning ‘dirty coal’ or ‘clean and natural gas’. “That’s one of the benefits of taking natural gas and converting it to LNG because it has around 70 per cent less carbon emissions than coal.”
But green groups aren’t convinced. “This is destruction on a massive scale for a project that will last 20 years. I just think it’s outrageous, it’s an appalling breakdown in public policy,” says environmental campaigner, Drew Hutton.
For the people of Gladstone, the LNG plants are a mixed blessing. “In every project there are negatives and positives,” says the city’s mayor, Gail Sellers. Unemployment is low, wages are high and many local businesses are riding the boom. But accommodation is expensive and that makes it harder to attract teachers, nurses and restaurant staff to the city.
There are also allegations that the creation of one industry has destroyed another. Commercial fishermen say dredging the harbour for the LNG industry has poisoned the fish. “I feel sick. Every night is like a nightmare for me,” says Trevor Falzon. “I had a good living out of fishing and overnight these gas companies have come in and just taken over.”
On December 19, the Gladstone Ports Corporation announced it would compensate the fishermen for limiting their access to parts of the harbour. It also set up a fund worth $1.5 million to rehabilitate the local seafood industry.
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But Trevor Falzon says the offer is a “circus and a joke.” He’s calculated he would receive approximately $20,000.
Mr Falzon is among a group of commercial fishermen that initially called for $20 million compensation from the Gladstone Ports Corporation, claiming an outbreak of diseased fish in 2011 was a result of dredging. The fishermen lost their bid to have their case heard in Brisbane’s Planning and Environment Court and have now taken their case to the Court of Appeal.
But the Queensland government, the Ports Corporation and the gas companies insist dredging hasn’t harmed the fish. “If you talk to the locals around town they will actually tell you, I believe, that some of the recreational fishing is some of the best it’s ever been in Gladstone Harbour,” says Santos’s Mark Macfarlane.
The gas companies will continue to battle for the hearts and minds of those who remain unconvinced by the benefits of their projects. They’re keen to highlight the benefits for Queensland. “Once we come on line in 2015 and heat up peak production we’ll be providing $500,000 a day in royalties to the state government,” says Mark Macfarlane.
The gas companies’ message: this is safe and sustainable. They’re unlikely to win everybody over to their side.
Source:SBS
